They not only owe Detective Falcone a parade of sorrow – they owe Jessica Welch one too and we women outnumbering the officers should be marching in it!

There is a pandemic, 4 women a day are slaughtered at the hands of an intimate partner who has been beaten before and who the law has released onto the streets to kill her. Friday afternoon Jessica Welch was murdered by her husband in the City of Poughkeepsie. One of our TMU WOMEN coalition members Maria DiBari was given an opportunity to voice our position and restate the need for one of many law’s we true advocates of victims have brought forward to no avail.

I urge you to read the article, create a login and lend your support to Maria and to Linda’s law. We have finally been given an opportunity to be heard on what has become a national story and where no other women’s group has shown any interest. Please back up Maria and by extension you will be helping TMU and the WOMEN coalition show we are there for the women’s issues that really matter and are not being addressed. The stunningly deafening silence, if continued, will result in the continued increase of preventable deaths of women.

And women will die – ho hum and occasionally an officer will die too and there will be grand honors for the hero while herstory is lost and no one admits the officer died as a result of failure to protect her in the first place. The officer was a needless casualty of the blatant disregard for women.

They not only owe Detective Falcone a parade of sorrow – they owe Jessica Welch one too and we women should be marching in it!

In summary:

Mr. Welch had previously assaulted his wife, violated a stay-away, was charged with third-degree assault, was jailed on $1,000 bail which he posted himself, three days after that, confronted his wife, was charged with a felony, was jailed with $20,000 bond on Friday Feb.20, was also freed on bail on the same date and drove to Poughkeepsie where he killed his wife and an officer.

When are we going to stop reading about these tragedies in the paper? When will we actually take action and have time for domestic violence issues in this country, in this state, and in this community?

We need Maria DiBari involved at the state level in domestic violence issues and solutions. Obviously those currently in power at domestic violence state and local agencies have not adequately addressed these important issues.
4 Women a day die at the hands of their intimate partners but very few make national news because it is a ho hum story until a police officer is also murdered. Why isn’t there just as big a parade of sorrow for every young mother who is sacrificed to her husband or lover?
We need survivors who are more interested in results than politics or paychecks in this positions, Maria is one such woman who has been fighting for justice for women.
Yes there was an officer killed and yes they came from all over the country because he put his life on the line, God bless our officers, Let’s not let him die in vain –Let us all stand up for the innocent women and children worth dying for as this brave officer saw fit to do. And let’s hire Maria and others to do the job.

8 Responses

Urgently need support for Officers and other casualties of the blatant disregard for women.

Another officer killed during DV murder! We continue to turn these would be murders loose and they continue to kill their wives, girlfriends and children but we only notice when Police officers get killed in the line of duty. Killed because others have not done their duty to serve and protect innocent and unarmed women and children.

While the 14th Amendment promises equal protected under the law, women and children appear to be neglected in domestic violence and family court matters so much so that when they are slaughtered the story only becomes national if an officer is also killed and then it is the officers life that is lamented rather than the fact that the perpetrator was free under a lax laws to go after the woman and or children.

I tried for hours to log into the site but found efforts thwarted, didn’t recognize my log in, wouldn’t process my registration- tried several times and finally changed my password, then it processed but wouldn’t recognize pw, wouldn’t email me a link to revise. Just jerked me around… I’ll try again today.

But a subtle point you made should be expanded into an Op-Ed piece by the Majority United to be submitted to the Editorial Board for publication in the paper’s Editorial Page. Not a piece applauding Maria or the officer, but focus on the statistics proving the extreme risk faced by officers responding to dv calls. The imbalance of power between women engaged in the home front efforts and the male invading her peace with disturbances, threats and outright appropriation of her rightful choices. Women who respond in a human way to violence against their person or rights are then placed in an escalating power struggle with the male offender who has already crossed the line of restraint and is fundamentally out of control. “Cops” include their own code of silence, brotherhood and basic issues with women in their views of disputes instead of finding that LINE and forcing the abuser to retreat to behind the line where his self-control is established. Perhaps Law Enforcement could re-evaluate policies guiding the handling of dv cases with an eye to dangers imposed on officers answering follow-up calls. A condescending ATTITUDE in these cases pre-disposes the Force to Casualty Status. The abusers need – not counseling, but an education in POWER and its influence in the way women defend their personal space, authority and earned status as decision makers in the home. This status, not the violence, is the key to resolving both the dispute and the certainty of escalation if ignored. It is the REASON for repeat offenses and only the MEN of the department can be effective in correcting their brothers with hard fast threats about taking out the offender for violating bail.

May I add to the conversation? There is another issue no one talks about. Well, a few.Women are given the “opportunity” to go to shelters..some great option…go to a shelter filled with crackheads or stay with the violent man. I used to live in NYC, and the NYPD are the worst when it comes to DV. One time an officer’s solution was to put husband in one room and me in another; no lock on bedroom door.
There are also the unintended consequences of allowing the “mentally ill” (which includes anyone who is even mildly depressed) to have so many rights that they trump woman’s rights. Psychiatrists are so close-eared to the spouses of the depressed (or worse), that you could tell your spouse’s psychiatrist that your spouse tried to kill you and the spouse’s psychiatrist won’t even blink. Those HIPPA laws protect the violent. Just one side of this that is never spoken about.

There should be NO BAIL for men who are trying to kill their wives or girlfriends.